Vice President J.D. Vance issued a stark warning to Republican senators who may oppose President Donald Trump’s nominees for key intelligence and law enforcement agencies: “You don’t get to make these decisions.” Speaking with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday, Vance made it clear that Trump’s picks should receive full GOP backing as confirmation hearings loom for FBI director nominee Kash Patel and Director of National Intelligence (DNI) nominee Tulsi Gabbard.
The Senate confirmation hearings, set for Thursday, will scrutinize some of Trump’s most controversial choices, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the president’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). While these nominees represent Trump’s commitment to shaking up Washington, their confirmation remains uncertain as some Republican senators hesitate to fully endorse them.
Vance expressed confidence that Patel, Tulsi Gabbard, and Kennedy Jr. will ultimately secure Senate confirmation, though he acknowledged that Republicans will have to “fight for each one.” The VP also praised the Senate Republicans for their “independent” and “freethinking” approach but reiterated that President Trump has the authority to select his own Cabinet members. He stressed that while Republicans are entitled to engage in the confirmation process, it is ultimately the president’s decision who he wants in his Cabinet.
“…The president has made his selections and the advice and consent power of the United States Senate should not be used to block people because you have one policy disagreement on one issue,” Vance told Hannity Thursday. “You don’t get to make these decisions. President Trump gets to make these decisions, and he already has.”
The former senator from Ohio urged his fellow Republicans to examine Trump’s 2024 coalition, questioning if their November victory was possible without contributions from figures like Gabbard and RFK, Jr. “Donald Trump won an imposing mandate because he got a different group of people to vote Republican than had ever voted Republican. We have to give those parts of the coalition some wins, too. So, yes, we’ve got a lot of traditional Republicans in the administration. We’ve got a lot of traditional national security hawks in the administration. But we’ve also got some new people, some people who bring a fresh perspective,” said Vance.
As of Thursday, Trump has eight members of his Cabinet confirmed so far: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
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